Beam
by macrauchenia
Summary: [Or Six Times the Sun Shined in Anteiku and One Time it was Overcast] - Even on the cloudiest of days, there always seemed to be sunlight in Anteiku. Nishiki always wondered when that light would burn out. After all, he reasoned, even distant stars and inexhaustible bulbs must also grow tired and simply fade to the blackness. Humans were no different. [Hide ft. Anteiku Bonding]


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Not a thing.

 **Author's Note:** Oh my gosh. I (sort of) swear this is the last Hide-centric fic I'll post for a few days. I have no idea why this sunshine child makes me so inspired.

Anyway, I just really, really love Hide so much and he deserves to have some interaction with the Anteiku gang too. I know there were several scenes/panels that mentioned Hide being isolated/left out from Anteiku, but I wanted to explore how those dynamics might've changed or could have been altered, since he's a pretty big part in Kaneki's life.  
((Side note, unfortunately this **follows the** **Root A Ending**. So, just a not-so-friendly heads up.))

* * *

 _Beam_ (noun)

1\. a wide, radiant smile to demonstrate happiness

2\. a ray or shaft of bright light, such as a sunbeam

3\. a long, sturdy piece of timber or metal, usually designated as a support mechanism

* * *

 **.DAWN.**

Even on the cloudiest of days, there always seemed to be sunlight in Anteiku. Although looming storms would tint the windows and darken the atmosphere, a continual glow burned from within the coffee shop, bathing the wooden floors and pristine china in a soft, golden haze.

Nishiki was always aware of the strange phenomenon, but he never bothered to wonder why. Since the time the manager offered him employment at Anteiku, the ghoul had noticed the muted aura, so he naturally assumed it was part of the coffee shop's shitty "charm" that all of the customers routinely raved about.

In Nishiki's opinion, the brightness inside the coffee shop was a bit too much and always gave him a headache.

(Though, the headache could have been instead from Nagachika's loud, bubbly cackle echoing throughout the shop. Why he routinely wasted his time at Anteiku instead of focusing on his rigorous studies, Nishiki had no idea.)

The ghoul glanced over the counter to study the blond, who was heavily invested in retelling a dramatic story to his dark haired best friend, complete with jarring and exhausting hand gestures. The half-ghoul laughed in the right places, further fueling the human's enthusiasm as he reached the punch line of the story with a wide grin.

Nishiki shook his head at the two and returned to his task of drying off the freshly washed ceramic cups.

 _Idiots._

.

According to his coworkers' mindless gossip, Nagachika had been the one obstacle in the way of his guaranteed employment at Anteiku. When the manager had called him to his office to discuss the terms of his service, the former had made a point to mention the human best friend of their resident half-ghoul.

" _The boy will no doubt want to visit Kaneki while he's here. If he recognizes you as his attacker, it will put both of you in grave danger. Something will have to be done. Do you still wish to work at Anteiku?"_

Nishiki had merely shrugged, not particularly concerned about his fellow student's life or his location in the application process.

" _He was unconscious,"_ was all the ghoul had to say for himself. He had bumped into Nagachika earlier at school and the blond had showed no sign of remembering the attack. Instead, he had cheerily waved to his superior, wishing him a quick recovery from the accident.

 _Even an idiot like Nagachika would have enough sense to avoid me if he knew I was a ghoul. Especially a ghoul who tried to kill him._

 _There's no way he knows._

.

However, the ghoul soon began to question his earlier assumption.

As the human visited the shop more and more frequently, Nishiki started to pay closer attention to his mannerisms and speech.

There was something suspicious about the teen's laugh. Although it easily bubbled out of his mouth in waves of mirth and joy, it had the tendency to dry up quickly, especially if the blond's conversation partner—usually Kaneki, but sometimes other employees—looked away.

 _He…doesn't know, does he?_

 _He knows something—his expression changes._ Nishiki considered the human for a moment, replaying the shift in expression over in his mind. _It…got darker?_

Nishiki scowled and shook his head to dismiss the thoughts. He was being ridiculous. Spending too much time with shitty Touka and the other teenagers was making him sink down to their juvenile level of rumors and double meanings.

 _Tch. Why am I even thinking about this? It's stupid._

The blond was just like everyone else; he deserved the right to have secrets and shadowy expressions.

Still…

Although he wouldn't admit it, it unnerved the ghoul to see such somber expressions on the human's face. For the longest time, he had thought Nagachika was physically incapable of looking remotely troubled. It was disconcerting to think of the sun as exhaustible.

.

He was almost at the end of his shift when he noticed the lights in Anteiku were dimmer than usual. Faintly surprised by the belated observation, the ghoul moved to flip the switch for the secondary bar lights, but realized they were already on.

 _Hmmm…._ He mused, squinting at the tiny accent lights hovering over the counter. None of them were burned out, yet the bar area seemed darker. In fact, the entire shop seemed darker to him

 _No matter. Clouds are just causing the sun to cast strange shadows. It's not an electrical issue,_ the ghoul concluded, greatly relieved that he wouldn't have to risk electrocution to figure out what was wrong. However, he made a mental note to tell the manager about the issue later. Just to be safe.

As Nishiki grabbed his bag to leave, he noticed the half-ghoul sitting alone at his usual table. Although he tried to appear uninterested, the ghoul was a bit curious as to why he was alone without the human. Now that Nishiki had thought about it, he hadn't seen the blond at school or at the coffee shop since a few days beforehand.

 _Nagachika wasn't here today. Maybe that was why I was able to get through work without getting another one of those shitty headaches from his obnoxious laugh._

"Where's your human?" The café was nearly empty, the only customers being faithful ghouls.

The dark haired boy still looked slightly panicked by the blatant question. He nervously glanced around the room to confirm that he was in safe company before sighing.

"H—he's out of town for a few days. There was a death in the family," Kaneki murmured.

"Condolences," Nishiki responded automatically, though both students knew he didn't exactly mean it.

.

Much to Nishiki's dismay, the blond came back to Anteiku a few days later, nearly bursting with pent up energy. The ghoul suppressed the urge to sigh and turned his back to the boys, pressing thin fingers to his throbbing temple. His irritated scowl caught on the bar lights and he frowned.

It seemed… It seemed as if the lights had returned to their usual brightness.

 _What the—_

Nagachika's vibrant laugh finally bubbled over, encasing the smiling occupants of Anteiku in a warm glow. Nishiki glanced back over his shoulder, watching the blond with one narrowed eye.

 _What the hell?_ He finally finished, observing the boy as if _he_ were the unnatural creature in the coffee shop.

"Hey, Irimi," he grunted, not tearing a calculating eye from the human.

"Hmm?" The older waitress looked almost surprised to be addressed by Nishiki. Usually the younger ghoul kept to himself, typically speaking only when he was insulting Touka-chan or Kaneki's human friend.

The younger ghoul hesitated before speaking, making his query seem far more mysterious.

"Have…have you noticed anything strange about the lights?"

Irimi blinked, thrown by the random question. "Huh?"

"The lights," Nishiki sighed. If he had to explain it, it was likely that the female ghoul had no idea what he was talking about. "Do they seem different to you all of a sudden? Like maybe brighter?"

Irimi considered the question, bringing a lithe finger to her chin and tapping it twice, deep in thought.

"Now that you mention it, it _has_ felt a little warmer lately."

 _Warmer? No, I said_ brighter, Nishiki corrected in his head, suppressing a scowl.

"Are you sure it isn't because of the lights?"

Irimi shrugged. "I thought maybe the manager had asked Kaneki to buy different bulbs. He's the one who goes shopping now. I would ask him if you're really curious."

He nodded politely and thanked her for her time. However, as he began to leave, Irimi tilted her head and pursed her lips.

"Yes, I'm fairly certain that it started feeling warmer when Kaneki came to Anteiku. It must be the new bulbs he buys."

 _I don't think it's something that Kaneki_ bought, Nishiki mused, glancing back to the grinning blond. It was all starting to make sense.

The warmth. The brightness.

The headaches that felt like he had been staring at the sun for too long.

 _More like someone he brought._

.

When he was five, his sister had pointed to the darkened sky, lit only by a circular ring of white fire. _Solar eclipse,_ she had called it.

He had thought the world was ending.

Nishiki thought back to that day, remembering his childish marvel as his sister explained what was happening. It was extraordinary that even something as massive and bright as the sun could be hidden for just a moment if the moon crossed its path.

It was a once in the lifetime opportunity, she had told him. Few people ever get to see one, and it was even rarer to see multiple eclipses. However, as he observed the blond alternate between laughing and glancing away, Nishiki felt like he was watching the sun disappear again and again.

.

Nishiki always wondered when that light would burn out.

After all, he reasoned, even distant stars and inexhaustible bulbs would eventually grow tired and simply fade.

Humans were no different.

* * *

 **.SUNRISE.**

It was a relatively quiet day in the café. The only customers were a few regulars popping by in the morning for their usual orders. After a lengthy period of silence, Nishiki calmly excused himself from the coffee shop's main room, casually assuring his coworker with a flippant hand gesture that he would return the next time he heard the bell ring.

Koma rolled his eyes good-naturedly but said nothing as the young man disappeared through the "staff only" door.

"If the Devil Ape were here," the man muttered under his breath, "he wouldn't stand for these youths abandoning their posts." Earlier that day, Touka had already left her shift an hour early, determined to meet up with friends at the library.

Koma shook his head with another fond smile. He supposed he could handle the shop by himself. The kids deserved some time to be kids.

The brunet was in the middle of polishing newly cleaned china when the bell announced a new customer. He glanced up automatically at the sound and smiled at his guest.

"Ah, welcome!"

The customer returned the smile and shuffled towards his usual spot. Koma watched the boy for a moment, racking his brains to remember the teen's name.

 _He's a good friend of Kaneki. He always comes in to wait for him to get off his shift. What was his name…?_ He studied the blond for a moment longer, grateful that the teenager was too focused on dragging books out of his bag to notice the ghoul's intense stare.

 _Kida…? No… It had an "h" in it._

"Kaneki isn't here today," Koma added, returning back to his task.

 _Hide! That's his name!_

"Huh?" The blond straightened up and blinked at the brunet. He looked thoroughly confused by the ghoul's statement.

 _Perhaps he thought today was Thursday. He seems distracted._

"Kaneki doesn't work on Wednesday," Koma clarified. "You usually wait for him, right?"

Suddenly understanding what the man meant, Hide opened his mouth and released a loud "ahhh."

"Oh, I know Kaneki doesn't work today. He's off at a book signing now." The blond grinned sheepishly, his eyes scrunching up from the action. "I would've gone with him, but I couldn't get past the first chapter, so…"

"So you're waiting for him here," Koma finished, glad to have finally figured out the boy's motive.

"Ah, not really." Koma nodded slowly, realizing he was the one who was now confused. "I just decided to come here for some peace and quiet." The blond eyed the empty café around him with an amused lift of an eyebrow. "It's very quiet here."

Koma smiled, understanding at last. He too relished the lull in between busy days, granting him time to dwell on his thoughts, undisturbed.

"Can I get you anything then?"

"Just a cup of coffee, please."

.

No more customers came in after the blond teen. Soon, he was the only patron left in the coffee shop, tucked away neatly in his usual spot.

Unable to focus on the mindless task of polishing already clean pieces of china, Koma would occasionally peek over at the student, curious to see what the boy was doing. Piles of books and papers were scattered across the table, while other stacks of paper sat beside the teen's bag. He would frequently explode into an excited state of frenzied writing, suddenly pause, and scratch out his work with an irritated grunt. To the side of the clutter, his cup of coffee remained untouched and cooled.

Despite himself, Koma was transfixed by the teen's strange behavior. He wondered what could possibly be causing the blond to be so stumped.

 _Maybe I should go over and ask. It couldn't hurt._

Koma shook his head to dispel the thought.

 _It's none of your business. Probably just some project from school._

The ghoul shuffled the doubly polished cups and then fixed their order again. He couldn't take it anymore. He _had_ to know.

Whistling a random tune loudly, the ghoul grabbed the nearest towel and busied himself with cleaning the table a few meters from the blond. After thoroughly scouring that table, Koma moved a little closer, his whistling trailing into a more obnoxious hum.

When the blond didn't react, Koma suppressed the urge to groan. Instead, he hovered by the boy's table and feigned surprise at his presence.

"Oh, I didn't know you were still there. I've just been _so_ busy cleaning tables," The brunet leaned forward to rub at the exposed inch of tabletop, taking the opportunity to scan the teen's assembled documents and books. Most of them involved ghouls.

Koma immediately straightened up and laughed breezily. "Can I get you anything else?"

Hide rubbed at his eyes tiredly and shook his head. "No," he sighed. "Unless you can help me with this…" He reached behind him, slouching in the wooden chair and arching his back as his fingers strained for the back wall. After stretching, the boy sagged in his seat and glanced up at the ceiling, rubbing at his eyes again.

The ghoul regarded the papers again with pursed lips. As he had first observed, it seemed to be a collection of reports of dangerous ghouls.

"What are you working on?" Koma asked cautiously. He had only spoken with Kaneki's friend a few times; he had no idea if the boy was dangerous or not.

 _He doesn't know…does he?_

 _He can't. It's against the rules. If he knew, he'd be dead,_ the ghoul concluded.

Hide gestured towards the books and papers with a sluggish flick of his wrist. "We have to write a short story for our composition class. I wanted to base mine on some incredible story about a ghoul, but," the boy sighed loudly, crossing his arms behind his head, "I can't seem to find a good account."

Koma fell silent for a moment. He _knew_ he should just feign ignorance and retreat back to the counter, but there was something sincere in the boy's warm brown eyes. He genuinely wanted to hear about the most dangerous and daring of the ghouls.

Koma genuinely wanted to tell him.

Cursing his inability to keep his mouth shut, Koma fixed a hand on his hip and smiled at the blond.

"Have you ever heard of the Devil Ape?"

Hide straightened up, planting the soles of his shoes firmly on the wood floor. "Devil Ape?" he echoed, his voice tainted with, in Koma's unbiased opinion, an appropriate amount of awe.

"The Devil Ape," Koma confirmed with a mysterious smile. Hide scrambled to find his pen and waited for the man to continue, the black ink poised above the starch white paper.

.

"And that's how the Devil Ape evaded the Black Dobers for the first time."

"That's so awesome," Hide breathed, watching the brunet with wide, eager eyes.

"Oh, it was nothing," Koma wriggled his shoulders, trying to suppress his own eager preening. "Just wait until you hear about the time I—I mean, uh, I'lltell you what I _heard_ the Devil Ape did after that."

Koma smiled faintly, relieved to have caught himself in time before his reminiscing tangent got him into trouble. He had been so consumed in his proud memories that he almost forget his lone audience member was human. It had been a long time since he had recounted his stories to anyone, and it was a pleasant change. For the first time in years, he felt revered again.

The teen accepted every story with vigorous nods and deep gasps. His brown eyes blazed with an intense curiosity as he absorbed each memory like a sponge. After studying the teen's wide, innocent grin, Koma decided that his choice to ask the blond about his school assignment hadn't been a mistake.

"It was then that the Devil Ape decided he needed to form a band of ghouls to fight with hi—"

"I'm sorry for interrupting, but I have a question."

"Yes?"

The blond tilted his head, studying the older man for a moment before posing his question. "Why haven't you ever written these stories down?"

Koma froze as a panic and regret washed over him. _Does he know who I am? Is he going to report me? I can't let him leave._ "Wha—If you think I'm the De—" The ghoul began hastily, hoping to deter the boy from his train of thought before he had to take desperate measures.

"I mean, why haven't you ever written down the Devil Ape's stories?" Hide rephrased his question. "You're obviously an expert on him, so you should be the one to do it." The blond fell silent, considering his next words. "I think it would help people understand things better if you helped explain that even ghouls like the 'Devil Ape' aren't all bad. The way you talk about him—he sounds like someone who just wants to survive…"

Koma's tense chest relaxed as he exhaled his pent up breath. The human's question was innocent; he was grateful he wouldn't have to kill him.

"I don't know," the man murmured, glancing to the side. "I never thought about it, I guess. I didn't think anyone wanted to hear about the Devil Ape."

"Are you kidding?" Hide's bright grin returned, further calming Koma's nervous suspicions. "These stories are amazing!"

The brunet returned the boy's grin, swept up in the infectious atmosphere. "Well, then let me tell you how the Devil Ape established the En gang!"

He continued to share years of his adventures with the boy, remembering to be mindful of the pronouns. The untold stories poured from the ghoul's mouth, filling the empty coffee shop with tales of survival, desperation, and regrettable vengeance. Neither of them seemed to be aware of the passing time, nor of the setting sun as it disappeared behind the skyscrapers, bathing Anteiku in a dying, golden light.

Instead, the metallic sound of a twinkling bell was the thing that reminded the ghoul of the passing time. Koma jerked his head towards the door just in time to see Kaneki pause halfway in the threshold.

"Uh, Hide…?"

The blond grinned at his friend's shocked expression and offered a quick greeting. The blond then scrambled to throw his various papers in his bag, ignoring the jarring sounds of paper tearing. He thanked the brunet ghoul again for his company before darting out of the door, nearly knocking into Kaneki on his way out.

The younger ghoul turned to face an equally surprised Koma, his exposed eye blinking owlishly in the twilight.

"Hello, Kaneki," Koma, recovering first, settled for with a warm smile. "I hope you enjoyed your day off."

The boy nodded, returning the brunet's expression with an abashed smile of his own. "If I had known you were closing early today, I would have come sooner to help," he apologized.

"What?" Koma tilted his head, confused by the teen's words. He glanced over Kaneki's shoulder and squinted at the sign.

Someone had flipped it to "closed" sometime earlier that day.

Koma thought back to the empty café, completely abandoned apart from a single human. A one-man audience.

He shook his head and smiled.

 _Clever kid._

* * *

 **.NOON.**

Kaneki's friend sat down at the bar that afternoon, pulling out several heavy books and a notebook.

"Sitting somewhere different, I see," Irimi remarked, her dark eyebrow darting up.

The blond human flashed her a sheepish grin. "I keep getting distracted while sitting at the window by the strangers walking past. I have a pretty big exam coming up, so I have to stay focused."

The ghoul smiled wistfully, sweeping a longing gaze over the unfamiliar terms on the teen's paper.

"It must be nice."

"Hmm?" The boy glanced up and tilted his head at the cryptic comment.

"Studying," Irimi clarified. "Going to school… _learning…_ " A regretful tone tainted her words as she stared pensively over the human's shoulder. "I never got the chance to go to school," she admitted, avoiding the blond's curious stare. "But I fear I may have lost my chance. There aren't any opportunities for old dogs like me to learn new tricks."

"Why don't you go somewhere then? If you travel, then you can certainly learn a lot."

Irimi shook her head. "It's far too late to go traveling now," she insisted, forcing a light smile. "I couldn't even leave Japan—I don't know any other language. I would be lost before I even stepped off the plane." The ghoul laughed again, but the joyful expression never quite reached her saddened eyes.

The human nodded with another faint "hmm" before returning to his studies.

 _It's just a dream. Something that could never happen._

 _I'd love to go somewhere though. Somewhere far away from all of this._

Irimi sighed softly, trying to prevent further interruptions for the student, and prepared more hot water.

"Ma'am! Could I please have a refill?"

"Certainly," she brightened, grateful for the distraction from her draining thoughts. When she returned a few moments later, she realized with a frown that Kaneki's friend had disappeared.

She reached over the counter to take his drained cup and froze.

"Oh?" Irimi blinked down at the faded notebook resting by the feet of the stool.

 _He must've dropped this while he was packing up._ She thought back to their earlier conversation. _He said he had an exam, didn't he? I hope he doesn't need this later._

The ghoul bent down with a soft grunt and carefully picked up the notebook. A torn sheet of paper fell out of the binding, fluttering to the ground with a breathy whisper.

 _Ooops…_ Irimi scrambled to grab the loose page before it was trampled by a couple on their way to the door. She picked up the sheet and stared down at it, curious to see what the human had been so worked up about.

 _Sonntag. Montag. Dienstag. Mittwoch._

She blinked at the foreign words.

 _What is this? It looks like it's in another language._

Her curiosity piqued, the ghoul opened the notebook and gingerly flipped through the pages of notes, painstakingly copied in the teen's tight scrawl. She absorbed the strange terms thirstily, though she didn't know what any of them meant. She didn't even know how to pronounce any of the words.

The dark haired ghoul glanced up sharply, surveyed the room to make sure she was out of earshot, and tried to whisper the first word.

Her tongue felt heavy as it tried to navigate around the unfamiliar syllables.

"Sooown taaaaahg," she tried, feeling her face flush at the grotesque butchering of the term. Although she had never heard the word before in her life, she was fairly certain that was not how it was supposed to sound. Irimi nearly slammed the notebook shut in disgusted embarrassment, but thought better of it and carefully closed it.

She set it back on the counter in case the human came back, but he never did. Throughout the rest of her shift, Irimi would continually peek back at the notebook, aching to come back and try the word again.

When Kaneki walked past, apron hanging exhaustedly from his forearm, Irimi called him over with a polite smile.

"Kaneki-kun," she began casually. The boy froze and turned back towards the older ghoul. "Your friend from the University—"

"Hide?" He looked nervous for some reason.

Irimi nodded, filing the name for later. "What does he study?"

Kaneki smiled, obviously relieved by the benign question. "International Studies."

"What is that?"

"Oh…" The boy tilted his head back as he considered the program. "He studies things from other countries. At least, that's how he explained it."

"Like foreign languages perhaps?"

The half-ghoul nodded. "Yes, I think he did say something about having to learn German."

 _German._ It made sense. The strange, circular letters were reminiscent of a western language.

Kaneki returned his gaze to the female ghoul's face. "Why'd you ask?"

Irimi shrugged, tucking the notebook out of the teen's line of sight. "No reason. I just saw him working on his studies and I wondered what it was."

 _He'll surely return tomorrow for his book. There's no harm in keeping it safe until then._

.

When the human returned to Anteiku the next day, Irimi reluctantly handed his notebook back to him.

The blond blinked at the book and a grateful smile immediately stretched across his features.

"I was looking everywhere for this!" he exclaimed, pressing a hand to his chest and exhaling in relief. "Thank you so much," he continued, flashing Irimi another wide smile.

"No problem," the ghoul smiled back. She was tempted to ask him to speak a few words, but she didn't want to reveal that she had snooped through his book.

The teen quickly cracked open the notebook, thankfully oblivious to the torn page, and began to softly murmur the words. Irimi watched him breathlessly, trying to remain perfectly still to hear every secret word.

He broke off and glanced up with an apologetic expression.

"Am I disturbing you? I can stop if you need me too," he quickly added.

Faintly embarrassed to have been caught staring, Irimi belatedly shook her head. "No, you're fine. I'm," she forced a smile, "I'm just glad you got your notebook back in time for your exams."

Hide grinned and echoed his thanks with another nod. After another moment of scanning for his place, he began to speak the words again, slightly louder than the time before.

Irimi turned her back on the human and busied herself with shuffling clean coffee cups to make it look as if she were doing something. In reality, she was carefully listening to his words, mouthing each unfamiliar vowel and consonant when she thought no one was watching.

Whenever a customer would call her attention away, Irimi quickly returned to hear the human's next list of terms. However, after a particularly long diversion, the ghoul returned to the teen's empty cup and the discarded notebook, lying in the same spot it had been a day earlier.

Irimi shook her head at the sight and bent down to pick the book up.

 _Kids…always rushing around to get things done,_ she mused fondly. Feeling a bit more confident than she did yesterday, Irimi casually thumbed through the pages. She froze and squinted at the words. Something seemed different.

 _Is it a different notebook?_

Irimi closed the book and flipped it to the front cover.

 _No, it's the same book…_

She opened back to the first few pages and slowly scanned each page. Next to each of the words was a broken down phonetic spelling instructing the reader on how to pronounce each foreign term.

 _So that's what he was doing today. Adding the pronunciations._

With the guide as her key, Irimi murmured the same word from yesterday. Although it still sounded blocky and strange, it felt much more natural. She was pleased to note that it sounded rather similar to way the blond had pronounced it earlier that day. Using both the pronunciation key and her memory of how the boy had uttered the words, Irimi went through the notebook again, whispering the words in the shop's twilight, long after closing.

.

It soon became a daily occurrence. The human would come to his seat at the counter and immediately begin murmuring the words only when Irimi was in earshot. When he was done for the day, he would leave and always forget his notebook at the barstool's feet. Irimi would scan through the book, memorizing the terms and rules, before returning the book to the human the next day.

Although Irimi never asked the boy questions directly, she formed disjointed conversations in her mind. She was fortunate that his notes were so thorough; nearly every curious inquiry she could think to ask about the language's structure typically appeared in the margins, answering her unspoken questions.

One day the boy did not immediately begin reading terms when he sat down. Instead, he watched her with a calculating expression, which made the ghoul slightly uncomfortable.

 _Has he figured it out? Is he going to tell me to stop going through his notebook? Did I forget to put that stray page back?_

"Hallo, Fräulein Irimi," he began after another pause, drawing each syllable out slowly.

"Guten Tag," she responded automatically.

"Wie geht's?"

 _How's it going?_ The ghoul smiled and tilted her head at the teen's odd question. She couldn't remember the last time they had had such casual small talk. "Es geht," she replied with a shrug. _It's going,_ she echoed in her mind.

The boy smiled, seemingly satisfied with the answer. They continued to converse about nonthreatening topics ranging from the weather to the time. Although Irimi thought the conversation subjects were strange, she responded to each of his offhanded comments.

"Ich möchte einen Kaffee, bitte," he added after another thoughtful pause. Irimi lifted an amused eyebrow. She didn't know why he seemed so meticulous in ordering a simple cup of coffee.

She nodded and turned to make the boy's coffee when she caught Koma's stunned stare.

"You aren't the only one who speaks with the customers," she shrugged, wondering why the ghoul looked so surprised.

"I…uh…what were you _saying_ though?"

"What?" Irimi blinked, glancing from a grinning Hide to a bewildered Koma.

"I think… I think you were speaking German," the ghoul breathed. "I didn't know you knew another language."

Irimi's mouth dropped open as she swiveled sharply to face the human. She had thought his blocky, almost juvenile wording had been strange, but now she realized it was only so she could respond with her rudimentary grasp of German. She hadn't even been conscious of speaking another language until Koma interrupted them.

"I won't need this anymore," he added, pushing the knowledge-filled notebook towards the female ghoul.

Irimi reached for the book and slid it closer to her side of the counter. Her lithe fingers curled into the paper until it crinkled. A thought struck her and she looked up with a suspicious expression.

"Won't you need it for your exam?"

"Exam?" The blond blinked, temporarily thrown by the question. Understanding flared in the boy's chestnut eyes as a loud laugh burst from his lips. He never did answer.

Irimi smiled. It was still all she needed to hear.

 _Kaneki has a good friend._

* * *

 **.GOLDEN HOUR.**

Yoshimura had an audience, though the boy was trying his hardest not to be caught.

The ghoul looked up slowly, giving the human plenty of time to avert his gaze and busy himself with his schoolbooks. His smiling gaze roamed sightlessly over the coffee shop to help convince the teen that his reconnaissance had gone undetected, that the ghoul was just casually looking over his pride and joy instead of searching for curious customers.

When Yoshimura had neatly swept the café, he returned to his task of coating the crushed grounds with boiling water. Within seconds, he felt the human's bright gaze boring back into the side of his head.

 _I wonder what he's looking for,_ the manager mused, setting the steaming kettle to the side.

Yoshimura's sharp gaze flicked up sharply, pinning the blond's startled stare from across the room. The human jumped and belatedly bowed his head, all but grinding his nose into his textbooks to hide his flaming cheeks.

The manager circulated throughout the shop, refilling customers' cups and offering kind sentiments, before stopping in front of the human's table.

"Good morning," he began warmly, tipping some of the dark, honeyed liquid into the blond's half empty cup.

"Morning," the boy murmured back, refusing to tear his abashed gaze from his books. He had been on the same page nearly thirty minutes ago when Yoshimura had poured his first cup of coffee.

"Are your studies going well?" Humor briefly flashed across the man's wrinkled eyes. "You seem distracted."

The human uttered a weak chuckle, scratching at the flushed skin of his outer cheek. "Maybe a little distracted," he admitted.

"Well, you're welcome to join me if you'd like. It's much quieter by the counter," he offered with another gracious smile.

He turned his back on the teen, waiting for a few heartbeats before walking steadily back to the bar. There was a moment of thoughtful silence before the blond scrambled to pack up his stuff. By the time the ghoul set the empty teapot on the counter, the human was already seated at one of the barstools.

Fully aware of the boy's concentrative stare, Yoshimura hummed softly as he crossed to the sink, filling another kettle with cool water. He set the pot on a stove burner and smiled back at the blond.

"Forgive me for disturbing you, but you're a friend of Kaneki-kun's, correct?" The blond nodded cautiously. Yoshimura understood his hesitance; of the staff at Anteiku, the manager believed he was the last one to cross paths with the blond human.

The elderly ghoul first learned of the boy when Touka-chan burst into his office, exasperated by the bonds of human friendship. She couldn't understand why Kaneki-kun was so bent on saving the blond's life. Only after he calmly reminded her of her own friendships at school did the younger ghoul fall silent.

He had seen the blond briefly, bloody and lifeless, after Nishiki had attacked him. Yoshimura assured his staff that the human was unconscious, physically incapable of overhearing their secrets, but he knew better.

After all, it was difficult to fool someone who spent his own life deceiving others.

Although Yoshimura never came into direct contact with the human, he learned about him through Kaneki-kun's offhanded comments, Nishiki's scowled admissions, and Touka-chan's embarrassed grumblings. Soon the boy's wide grin infected his entire shop, surrounding Irimi and Koma in the same sunlight that poured through the windows and from his crinkled eyes.

"He often mentions you," Yoshimura added, his fond smile growing. "Nagachika, I believe he said your name was…?"

Seeming more at ease with the ghoul, the teen chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Just Hide," he insisted.

 _Hide._

Yoshimura nodded and turned back to his teapot. By now, it was whistling shrilly, reminding its owner that it was ready to be used. The man set it to the side and prepared the rest of his supplies to make coffee. He carefully scooped out a hefty handful of beans and placed them in a ceramic bowl. The ghoul reached for the matching pestle.

"You don't use a machine?" The surprised words were out of the human's mouth before he could retract them.

 _Ahhh…. So_ that's _what he's looking for._

Yoshimura looked back towards the young man, his eyes creasing at the human's curious expression as he watched the older man.

"No, I've found that grinding the beans by hand makes the coffee far more flavorful. It allows one to maximize the potential of each individual bean, making the final flavor much stronger."

The human nodded with an understanding "ahh" and shifted his gaze back to the mortar and pestle as the old man prepared the beans in silence. The boy's narrowed eyes followed each of the man's motions, determined not to forget a single action.

"If you grind for too long, the coffee will taste bitter. If you don't crush the beans enough, the flavor will be weak. You have to find the perfect medium."

The manager stopped mid-twist and gently plucked a roasted bean from the rest of its already grounded siblings.

"Do you see this, Hide-kun?"

The blond leaned forward and squinted at the unscathed bean. "It's still whole…?" Hide echoed slowly, unsure of what the manager was hinting at.

"It's remained firmly sealed despite all of my careful pressuring. It refuses to open up even after I try to coax it out of its hard shell." He passed the bean to the human, feeling the smooth pucker of the boy's palm under his fingertips as he dropped the shell.

The boy drew his curled fist close to his chest as he studied the wrinkled, hard outer casing of the bean. "So…what do you do then?" he whispered hoarsely.

Clearly, the boy had other things on his mind than stubborn coffee beans.

"How do you get it to open up?" Hide tilted his head back to meet Yoshimura's unreadable expression.

"If I may…" Yoshimura held out his upturned hand to the teen. The blond human hesitated for a moment before returning the bean, dropping it softly into the manager's wrinkled palm.

"Sometimes all you need to do is add a little warmth," he added with another enigmatic smile. He set the bean to the side of the still glowing stove coil. Within seconds, a faint crackle sounded, signifying the final breaking of the outer shell. Hide's thoughtful stare followed the bean as the manager transferred it to the mortar and uniformly grounded it like the others.

Satisfied with the results, he moved the coffee grounds to a filter suspended above an empty pot. He gently shuffled the powder to make the levels more even before reaching for the boiling water.

Yoshimura tipped the teapot over the filter, painting the darkened beans with the steaming liquid. He swept the teapot in a controlled, even motion. Hide watched the deliberate arc of the man's elbow and arm carefully. It was clear from the boy's attentive expression that he was furiously taking mental notes on how to properly add the water.

"You have to be gentle," Yoshimura narrated as he repeated the motion. "Adding too much at once may overwhelm the grounds and drown out any flavor."

"I understand…."

Yoshimura nodded approvingly. He had a feeling they weren't discussing coffee anymore.

He finished the rest of the process quickly and set the empty teapot to the side. He poured some of the fresh coffee into the blond human's partially filled cup. The warmer, darker liquid mingled with the pale, cold leftover drink, creating a homogenous, chestnut brown mixture.

"It…it seems like a lot of work, just to make one cup of coffee," the blond murmured after a moment of quiet thought. His conflicted gaze bore into the steaming liquid as his hands tightly clutched the warm cup.

Yoshimura considered the question for a moment before nodding sagely. "It is. A person must be very important to deserve such a show of hard work." The ghoul glanced over his coffee shop, his warm gaze lingering on his employees and his customers. "Everyone who comes into Anteiku is special though, don't you think?"

The manager tilted his head as he studied the blond before him.

"Certainly there's someone special to you, Hide-kun."

A gradual smile spread across the boy's lips, confirming Yoshimura's suspicions.

 _After all, why else would you want to learn how to make coffee?_

* * *

 **.TWILIGHT.**

Hinami had lost her appetite.

She shuffled the tiny morsels of pastry around on her plate in an imitation of human eating, but she was too tired to even fake _fake_ -eating.

The girl reached for her cup of cooled coffee, but dropped her hand with a tired sigh and resumed pushing the pieces of sugared dough in haphazard circles. Rain tapped on the windows, though the water's once soothing lullaby now made her loneliness worse.

A flurry of color at the door drew the girl's attention and she turned her head slightly to see who had entered. Her brow scrunched in recognition at the sight of the blond young man, though she was having difficulty placing how she knew him. Hinami took a hesitant sniff, noting that the blond was human.

He pushed back his messy shock of hair, drenched and darkened from the rain. Hinami suppressed a soft gasp.

 _It's Onii-Chan's friend,_ she realized with wide eyes. She knew that he used to visit Anteiku often when Kaneki still worked there, but she hadn't seen the human in a long time.

 _Not since Onii-Chan left…_ she added sadly, lowering her solemn gaze back to her shredded pastry. She didn't know the blond well, but his presence was enough to remind her of her missing big brother.

Hinami peeked back up at the human and watched him with a curious expression. He leaned against the counter, running a shaking hand through his damp hair as he conversed with Koma.

 _Is he looking for Onii-chan too?_

Apparently, the boy didn't receive what he had hoped for, since he backed off with a faded smile and a tight nod.

 _He looks so sad…_

Hinami's frown stretched longer across her face as she studied him more closely. His hair was longer than when she had last seen it, though it may have been from the water weighing it down. He seemed rather pale, but again Hinami wondered if it was because of her own skewed perception of humans.

The teen moved back towards the coffee shop door, but hesitated before leaving, one hand hovering over the gold knob. He strained his neck for one last hopeful survey of the café for his best friend. His searching gaze briefly passed over her before snapping back to her startled face. They locked wide-eyed glances for a moment, but he quickly tore his downcast eyes away with an apologetic smile. His blank stare roamed sightlessly across the café one more time, carefully avoiding Hinami, before he backed out of the shop.

Hinami dropped her gaze, inhaled and exhaled tensely, and lightly drummed the table with her slender fingers. She was tired of waiting for Onii-Chan to come back, but she knew his human friend had missed him even more. Hinami stood up abruptly, knocking her chair back with a loud squeal, and rushed out of Anteiku, ignoring Koma's muffled calls.

"Wait!" she shouted, running after the blond in the rain. The drops dribbled into her eyes and she wished she had had the foresight to grab her umbrella before racing after the human. She had been so determined not to lose him in the storm.

 _"Wait!"_ she cried out again, squinting in the dark storm for the same flash of color again.

 _There!_ She spotted him, huddled under a doorway, staring up at the pouring sky with a wry frown. At the sound of her voice, his head jerked sharply in her direction, pinning her with his curious, confused stare.

She eventually reached him, her soft pants drowned out by the gentle crash of the rain.

"You're friends with Onii-Chan," she breathed out, straightening and fixing the boy with a determined stare.

"Onii-Chan?" He blinked slowly. Then realization dawned in his soft eyes and he laughed with another faded smile. "You mean Kaneki." His smile brightened, despite the pouring rain and icy breeze. "You're Hinami, right?"

The girl swallowed, suddenly starting to realize that she had just chased down a human stranger. Regardless of if he was a friend of Onii-Chan or not, she didn't know if she could trust him.

"Yes," she murmured, glancing away shyly.

The teen grinned, flashing the girl a wide, pleasant smile. "I'm Hide, but I'm sure Kaneki wouldn't have talked about someone as boring as me."

Hinami returned the man's grin with a slow, hesitant smile of her own. _Hide,_ she echoed. The name sounded familiar. It sounded like the sunshine and Onii-Chan's happy giggle.

"I remember…" she began slowly, thinking back to the days before her parents died— _no, they were murdered._ The blond had visited the shop often in those days.

 _The happy days,_ the ghoul mused sadly.

His laugh had trickled all the way up to her silent solitude. More than anything, she had wanted to escape to the coffee shop's main floor to find out what had been so funny. She was always missing something. First, the joke. Then her parents.

Now, Onii-Chan.

A forceful sneeze ripped itself through the girl's body, causing her to quake violently in the chilling rain. Immediately the blond shrugged off his thick jacket and held it over the ghoul to protect her from the rest of the storm.

"We should get you back to Anteiku before you catch a cold," he laughed, his eyes scrunching up in amusement. He tried to look concerned for her health, but then he sneezed just as loudly, reducing both of them to sniffling giggles.

Hinami nodded and let the blond lead them back to the coffee shop. He opened the door, but hesitated before entering the building.

The ghoul paused on her way back to her table and blinked back at the human from underneath his heavy jacket.

"Would you like to join me, Hide-kun?"

"Are…are you sure?"

Hinami smiled back, trying to encourage the human to join her.

The rain no longer sounded melancholy, no longer rapping against the window as if it were trying to escape.

.

Although their conversation started innocently with jokes and inquires on each other's progress in their studies, it inevitably turned to Kaneki. Hinami expected it to; after all, it was her sole connection with the blond human. Judging by the blond's heavy sigh, she knew he was only waiting for the boy's name to come up as well in the conversation.

However, instead of dulling their talk with worries about their mutual friend, the human began with a lighthearted story about a lost time in their childhood.

"I would have jumped out of that window if Kaneki hadn't run up six flights of stairs to tell me I couldn't fly," the teen finished, leaning back in his chair and tucking his arms behind his head. "He saved my life, but we never brought it up again. That's probably best for me too—I'd owe him my eternal servitude if he remembered."

Hinami giggled as she pictured the scene. Hide-kun, arms outstretched with a sheet billowing behind—far too caught up in an American fantasy to see the danger. Onii-Chan, panting, yet persevering as he rounded the last stairwell, desperate to save his friend before he did something truly stupid.

"You know, Hinami…" the human began softly. "Kaneki has _always_ been there for me. This…this is hard. I know something's wrong," he swallowed thickly before barreling onto his next statement. "Yet, I can't do anything. I can't do anything to help him…"

The ghoul remained quiet. She knew exactly how he felt. The sensation of hopeless. The burning desire to help in any way possible, yet having no direction to point one's determination.

Hinami reached across the table and lightly laid the tips of her slender fingers across the boy's pale wrist. She offered him a reassuring smile and he returned the gesture after another moment of solemn consideration.

"I'm sure Onii-Chan is fine," she added for the boy's benefit. She didn't tell him that Kaneki's hair has turned white after being tortured to madness. She didn't tell him that he was currently striving to rid the world of "evil"—yet, he still hadn't come up with a proper definition.

She stayed silent to make things easier on the human, because she didn't want him to be hurt anymore than he already was. She could see the strain in his smile, even though he continually poured unbelievable amounts of will into keeping it lit for others.

She was worried he would exhaust himself and dim to darkness. Since Onii-Chan wasn't around to protect his friend, she would do it for him.

"Thanks, Hinami," the blond murmured after a thoughtful pause, offering her a small, yet genuine smile. "I appreciated your company," he added, slowly climbing to his feet.

The warmth and pressure of Hide-kun's jacket over her shoulder's reminded her that she needed to return it to him. She shrugged it off, tugging at the long sleeves.

"Here's your jacket ba—" Hinami broke off, her wide eyes sliding to the stitched lettering on the inside.

 _Property of the Commission of Counter Ghoul._

Immediately the young ghoul began to tremble.

 _How… How could he? He—he's a murderer too. They ki-killed my parents._

"Hinami….?" The human followed her gaze and froze.

"Hinami. Listen to me—"

The girl's quaking grew more violent as the shock melted away into fury. She was losing control; she couldn't stop herself.

 _Calm down,_ she hissed. _He'll figure out you're a ghoul. Then he'll know about Onii-Chan too._

 _He's a murderer. He'll_ kill _Onii-chan. He'll kill all of us. Everyone here. He's a trai—_

 _Calm down!_

The teen's long fingers wrapped around her wrist firmly enough to keep her from jerking her arm away, but softly enough to not cause any pain.

" _Please_ listen to me—"

 _Why should I listen to you? You…traitor!_

 _Onii-Chan._

 _Where are you?_

 _Onii-Chan_ trusted _you._

The boy lowered his face so it was only a few inches from Hinami's stunned expression.

"Hinami, _please,_ " he begged again, his voice lowering to a pleading whisper.

"I…I don't know what's going on, but I don't want to hurt anyone. _Please_ believe me." The human's warm gaze bore into her frigid stare until the ice began to chip.

"I just want to find Kaneki too and right now they have the most answers."

"I would _never_ hurt him. Hey, remember? I owe him my life." The blond's hoarse chuckle sounded far too painful and strained to be natural. "It's my turn to save him from jumping out a window."

The ghoul's tremors slowed to a stop and she blinked back at the human. It wasn't forgiveness, but it was an understanding.

The teen apologized one more time before straightening up and retreating from the table. As he disappeared through the door, Hinami watched him go with the same blank expression.

She didn't want him in her home anymore.

She never realized that was the last time she would see him until her home slipped from her grasp as well.

* * *

 **.SUNSET.**

Shortly after becoming a permanent fixture at Anteiku, the blond human had realized that they all needed something to cement the memories. Taking it upon himself as a secret mission, the boy had sworn to capture a smile from every single employee. Armed with nothing more than a plastic disposable camera, he scoured the coffee shop for any glimpse of a grin.

Koma had caved first, beaming charmingly at the blond in the middle of his shift.

 _Cutzzz. Cutzzz._

The human eagerly wound the cheap wheel in preparation for the next photo.

Irimi was next, flashing a demure smile over one shoulder on her way out the door.

 _Cutzzz. Cutzzz._

Surprisingly, the human's next successful target had been Nishiki. Lying in wait for hours for the older student's girlfriend to arrive, Hide had burst from the shadows, jamming down on the plastic buttons excitedly until the weak flash went off, blowing up in Nishiki's shocked face. The dropped jaw quickly morphed to an irritated glare; however, his first expression, a shy smile paired with Kimi's twinkling laugh, remained immortalized on the film roll.

In close succession, the human had also captured a meek smile from Hinami, sneaking briefly out of her room to hear the commotion, and a crinkled, warm expression from the manager.

 _Cutzzz. Cutzzz._

In order to snag Touka's rare smile, the blond had to sacrifice the dignity of his best friend. Allowing the darker haired teenager to stutter and fumble for words for far too long, Hide had caught the girl's bemused, pitying smile just before it turned into an annoyed glower.

The one smile the blond human had yet to catch belonged to Yomo, who's elusive and stony-faced nature only made the game more challenging for Hide. After imploring his best friend's help for days, Kaneki had reluctantly given in, already doubting the human's ability to make the silver haired ghoul smile. After all, it seemed far too impossible.

However, the blond was persistent, perking up each time the older man entered Anteiku. Someone—Kaneki had a suspicious feeling it had been a disgruntled Nishiki—had informed the ghoul of the human's harmless mission. Instead of further avoiding the blond as Kaneki expected him to, Yomo seemed faintly amused by the game, though it was hard to tell for sure from his blank expression.

Every time the silver haired ghoul had noticed the blond watching him, he would turn towards him and level him with a cool stare. Periodically the corners of his mouth would tip upwards, but far too briefly, resulting in a scowling human and a half-ghoul trying and failing to suppress his chuckles.

Undeterred, the blond human faithfully carried the tiny plastic camera around whenever he visited Anteiku, often keeping it clutched in a sweaty palm.

.

The game had ended with an ambiguous winner.

Without any sort of warning, Yomo had strolled towards the blond human, seated at his usual table by the window. Kaneki, who was in the middle of a break, fell silent first, nudging his best friend under the table. Hide broke off mid-laugh and blinked at the solemn man towering above them.

"Yomo-san…?" Kaneki echoed, rubbing nervously at the back of his neck. The older ghoul's unrelenting stare was starting to unnerve him.

The man flicked his blank gaze from the human to his friend before plucking the plastic camera from its safe perch on one of the blond's textbooks. He studied the cheap device intently before curiously spinning the tiny wheel.

 _Cutzzz. Cutzzz._

Touka paused in the middle of wiping a counter to watch the unfolding action. Similarly, Nishiki glanced over from another table, nearly missing a confused customer's order.

"Don't blink." The man instructed, lifting the gaudily colored prism to his eye.

 _Upside down._

A disbelieving laugh bubbled out of the blond's mouth while Kaneki's nervous chuckle sounded faintly hysterical.

"Yomo-san—" the latter began, a weak hand lifted towards the camera to try to correct it.

 _Snap!_

The half-ghoul was too late. Finding the plastic button with his left thumb, the older ghoul had captured the human's broad, openmouthed grin and his best friend's wide-eyed gawk for eternity.

Yomo lowered the camera, revealing a mute and rare upwards curve of the lip.

The human noticed the expression with an excited gasp and scrambled for the camera, tugging it out of the ghoul's loose grasp.

"Hide!" Kaneki squawked, horrified by his friend's impertinent action.

The blond ignored the darker haired teen's shout and busied himself with furiously winding the plastic wheel.

 _Cutzzz. Cutzzz. Cutzzz._ He spun the wheel faster and faster before letting out a loud groan.

"I don't believe this…"

The film was out, yet he had still gotten a smile.

.

Yomo was not alone when he came to Anteiku for the last time.

He paused outside the door and hesitated, alarmed by a faint sound echoing from inside. His brow furrowed as he strained to determine what the noise was.

 _Crying…?_

Yomo's blank expression stretched into a concerned frown. He knew from the manager's quick briefing that the coffee shop was being directly targeted, though he couldn't see any evidence that the café had been attacked.

 _It could be trap._

The ghoul cautiously slipped through the door, taking care to be absolutely silent. Now inside, he was certain that someone was crying—soft, mournful whimpers as if the individual's life had just ceased.

Yomo froze as he entered the main room of Anteiku. Huddled in the center of the coffee shop was a trembling Kaneki. A white shock of hair shook as it bent over the still form of another teen.

Although Yomo hadn't seen the blond human in months, his tousled halo of blond hair was easily recognizable in the dim lighting. Still, it was eerie to see the teen without his wide grin. It was disturbing not to hear his laugh.

The silver haired ghoul tilted his head, straining to hear any heartbeats over Kaneki's hushed gasps.

 _Two…? I hear tw—no… Just one now._ Yomo dropped his gaze, realizing what the jarring silence after the sluggish last beat meant.

"Kaneki-kun," he murmured in a low, downcast tone.

The boy showed no sign of hearing him, refusing to tear his gaze from his best friend's cold face.

"You need to leave."

Yomo offered the pair one last respectful nod before moving towards the counter. Yoshimura gave him an order and he did not intend to disobey, regardless of the half-ghoul's personal tragedy.

He rooted through a drawer, searching for the manager's book of matches when his hand scrapped against plastic. The silver haired ghoul pulled his hand back at the sight of the scuffed memory. He considered it for a moment, his blank expression remaining firm, before tucking the item into his jacket.

Yomo struck the match and turned to leave. He paused, glancing back over his shoulder at the teens as the flames started to spread. Shadows of yellow and crimson flickered across Kaneki's glistening face, illuminating his face with citrine and ruby jewels when the light caught his tears.

The sun had finally set in Anteiku.

* * *

 **.MOURNING.**

Overall, Touka would say she was having a pretty shitty day. It first began when she lost one of her notebooks, forcing her to miss crucial information from her hardest class only days before her exit exam. During lunch, she had to suffer through disgusting coffee while battling a pulsing headache. To top it off, she fumbled for her umbrella, only to realize she had forgotten it—just as the rain started to pour.

She ran as fast as she could, pulling the edge of her jacket over her head as she raced towards her new home. She burst through the wooden door of :RE, stumbling to a confused stop at the sight of several familiar faces.

"Touka-chan!" Koma cried out, his face splitting into a broad grin. He hobbled towards the girl and clasped her shoulder in a warm gesture of fond camaraderie.

The female ghoul glanced from the Devil Ape to his lithe companion. A disbelieving smile gradually grew across her taunt lips. "I thought… I thought…"

"You thought those ghoul hunting bastards killed us?" Irimi grinned, sliding up next to Koma.

"They'll have to try a lot harder than that to kill the Devil Ape!" the brunet crowed, puffing his chest out triumphantly.

"Tch," Nishiki, previously unnoticed in the shadows, shouldered himself into the crowd with an exasperated roll of his eyes. "You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that suicidal idiot."

Touka turned her wide gaze on the young man. "Is…is he—" She had heard the rumors, but if Koma and Irimi were still alive, there was always a chance…

The other ghouls lowered their eyes. They had heard the rumors too. About Centipede and the One-Eyed Owl.

Unable to handle the somber mood for much longer, Touka lifted her head, eyes roaming casually across the empty café. They had yet to officially open, but it was only a matter of days.

Light flared off a glassy surface of an object perched on the counter. Touka slowly moved towards the bar, tilting her head as she considered it, realizing belatedly that the item was a frame.

 _I…this…_

 _How…?_

Her hands trembled as she gingerly picked the framed picture off the counter. Her pale fingers curled into the wooden corners, leaving smudges on the cool glass as her palms pressed against the edges. She was afraid she would drop it, but she couldn't set it down.

"Yomo-san found that old disposable camera," Koma answered the girl's unasked question from somewhere behind her. "Remember? The one will all of us smiling?"

"We thought it wouldn't be the same without them," Irimi added softly, her dark gaze settling on the photograph's subjects. "It's kind of like a house warming gift."

Touka swallowed thickly and nodded before finally releasing the frame. She set it down with a light _thunk,_ yet kept her bright stare focused on the two faces.

 _They look so happy…_

 _Looked,_ she amended in her head. But it was happiness nonetheless.

She turned back to face her former coworkers. "Are you staying?"

Irimi exchanged a knowing glance with Koma. "I'd love to, but… I think it's time for me to lie low for a while." Her wistful smile drifted towards the picture. "I was thinking of going to Germany. I know at least enough to get off the plane," she chuckled, shaking her head fondly at a past memory.

Koma released an exaggerated yawn, patting obnoxiously at his open mouth. "That sounds thrilling, but I'll be staying here." He smiled thinly at the female teen. "Though, I think I'll try my hand at writing."

"Writing?"

"The Devil Ape can't be forgotten you know," Koma winked at the girl, shoving his hands in his pockets and leaning back with another grin.

"I doubt anyone would want to hear about that," Nishiki scoffed, crossing his arms in disbelief.

"Oh, you'd be surprised…"

Touka turned towards the older student. "And you?" she hesitated before asking.

The young man lowered his gaze and turned away. "I have other things to deal with." Touka nodded. Hinami hadn't joined them at :RE, but she had a feeling she would be joining him.

The tiny group of former coworkers shared a few more memories and few more weak laughs, but soon it was time for them to part ways.

Koma and Irimi offered Touka final embraces before backing towards the door. Nishiki followed afterwards, nodding politely in the student's direction.

The Devil Ape stepped out of :RE first, craning his neck as he stared upwards. "I think it's stopped raining," he murmured after a brief pause.

Irimi stuck her hand out, waiting for any leftover drops to splatter in her palm. "I think you're right," she added, squinting at the soft gray mantle above them.

The sky began to glow as the sun gradually peeked from underneath its cloudy shroud.

Light flooded into the coffee shop. For the first time in a long time, Touka felt warm again.

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading! Hopefully everything was nice and sad and cute and stabbed your insides a little.**

(Psssst. If any of you can figure out the significance of each subject heading ((i.e. Dawn, Sunrise, Noon, etc.)), I will love you forever and ever and quite possible cry happy tears.)  
(Also, please forgive any factual mistakes. I literally researched "how to make a cup of coffee" for two hours, but I'm still not sure if that's even the right way.)


End file.
